Eloise Williams is an award-winning author from Wales and the inaugural Children’s Laureate Wales 2019-2021. She was chosen for the prestigious Hay Festival Writers at Work Scheme and has an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction from Swansea University. She failed her Art GCSE but likes to draw anyway.

Eloise’s books have won the Wales Arts Review Young People’s Book of the Year, the Wolverhampton Children’s Book Award, the YBB Book Award, the Tir na nOg Readers’ Choice Award and have been shortlisted for the NE Book Awards and Wales Book of the Year.

Eloise collects sea glass and ghost stories, wanders forests and graveyards and sings Welsh songs wherever she goes.

I was extremely lucky to have Elosie as one of my mentor’s on A Writing Chance. Amazingly supportive, extremely honest and dead funny it was a pleasure to work with her. I love reading children’s fiction and try to add a classic childrens book to my monthly tbr pile. It is an absolute please reading Elioise’s books and I adored Honesty and Lies.

Can you tell us a little about the book?

Honesty and Lies is a middle grade story set in London in 1601. Honesty, a storyteller seeking fame and fortune, befriends Alice, a maid to Queen Elizabeth I. But can Alice be trusted? A tale of intrigue, scheming and plots set in the spellbinding world of the Elizabethan court. It’s a thrilling adventure where nothing is as it seems.  

Where did this story come from?

I live in a peaceful place in south-west Wales. It’s calm and beautiful and sedate. I love the quietness and the way it lets you exist at a slow pace. I spend as much time as I can staring into the worlds inside rockpools and dreaming up stories. Every so often though, to shake things up for myself, I feel the need for an explosion of life and colour and culture. London always delivers.

I lived in London for a few years when I was an actor. The majority of that time was spent ‘resting’ – which actually meant working all hours in cafes and bars, or anywhere that would help me to pay my extortionate bills. I was lucky enough at one point to bag myself a bar job at the National Theatre. Not only did I get to serve drinks to the likes of Alan Titchmarsh and cross paths with Alan Rickman on the stairs, I also got to walk along the Thames by daylight on my way in for a shift and by night light on my way home. It made a fairly mundane job into something magical. I fell in love with the river. It’s business, the mudlarks at its shore, the boats streaming up and down, the sense of history and vibrancy the water brings.  

On a visit a few years ago, I decided to take a boat ride to Greenwich. It wasn’t an area I was familiar with, but I thought it would be fascinating to see a different part of the river. I was right.

Greenwich Palace – a place I’d never heard of because, I’ll admit it, my knowledge of history is ropey at best – birthplace to Elizabeth I stood on the banks of the river until it fell into disrepair during the Civil War and was eventually demolished.

‘Ooh, a palace,’ I thought. I wonder what it would have looked like? I wonder who would have lived there? I wonder a hundred different things.

My work often brings to life the voices of women and girls who wouldn’t have been given a voice in their time. I began to play about with rebuilding the palace in my mind – though I drew heavily on Hampton Court in my research – and as well as populating it with rich people I imagined the lives of the people who worked there.

Two maids came into my head. Honesty and Alice. I wondered what they would have experienced residing at the palace and working under Queen Elizabeth I. I wondered what they would have endured and enjoyed, and what conversations they might have overheard. I began to write their story.

Do you have a favourite character in the book?

It’s really difficult to choose between the two main characters. Honesty is a storyteller who wears her heart on her sleeve, takes chances, is brave, loyal and kind. Alice is quiet and secretive and a bit spiky. I mean, it isn’t her fault, but she is a sourpuss.

It’s the first time I’ve written a story in alternating voices, so I guess I got to know these two girls pretty well. I love them both equally. I suppose my characters are a bit like children. I wouldn’t want to pick!

Can you tell us a little about your writing practice?

I write when I can and as much as I can. After a decade of writing, I’d saved up enough to buy myself a shed (in an epic online sale) and I spend a lot of time in there watching the blackbirds taking a bath, and wildflowers and weeds growing. I do less writing in the shed than I’d expected to. Most of my writing happens in my head when I’m walking about, and is jotted down on my phone, or scribbled on receipts or on the back of my hand. I usually tell people that I always have a notebook with me but it’s a terrible lie.

When did you first start writing?

I started when I was in my late thirties. Having been through a couple of awful relationships, I felt as if I’d lost my voice and any sense of who I was. Writing gave me my spark back.

What advice would you have wanted to be given when you were an aspiring writer?

Define success for yourself.

Do you ever get feedback from readers, and what do they say?

One of the most surprising and thrilling things about writing for children is the feedback they give you. I work in schools frequently and young people are always an inspiration. I love their honesty and their blunt questions and opinions. They feel like the best of people.

They often send me letters to tell me how much they enjoyed my books or pieces of art, reviews, or stories they’ve created themselves. It is a complete honour to receive them.

Did you have a favourite book as a child?

I had so many. I lived opposite a library, so I was very lucky. I just had to cross the road for access to hundreds of worlds.

What are you reading?

I have a toppling TBR pile on my bedside table which is threatening to fall and crush me to death as I sleep.

I’m reading Wanderers – A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews at the moment. It’s a fascinating read and I’m really enjoying my wanders with the likes of Virginia Woolf and Anaïs Nin.  

Are you a member of your local Library?

Of course!

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on edits for what will be my next book. I’ve come back home with this one and the south Wales valleys where I grew up. It hasn’t been announced yet so I can’t tell you too much about it, but it has taken me a long time to get this story down on the page. It’s very personal and it means a huge amount to me.

What question do you wish you’d been asked, and what would be the answer?

Does your dog think your writing shed is a luxury kennel?

Answer – YES!

A big thank you to Eloise for taking time to answer my questions. More about Eloise can be found here

www.eloisewilliams.com

Instagram @eloisewilliamswriter